They say drowning is peaceful at the end. A gentle surrender as your lungs fill with water, your mind drifting away into darkness.
That was untrue.
There's nothing peaceful about the way your body betrays you, fighting against itself in blind panic. The way your chest spasms, desperat...
2025-02-08 02:11:22 +0000 UTC View PostPhew. Focus. Focus.
Adom rubbed his palms together, too aware of how clammy they felt. He'd thought these kinds of sensations were behind him by now. Apparently not. His fingers drummed against his leg as he stared at the circles drawn on the table, hyper-conscious of the presence ...
2025-02-07 01:53:13 +0000 UTC View PostAdom smiled as Bob materialized in the empty classroom. The old leprechaun's white beard was neatly trimmed now, his new emerald coat adorned with golden threads that caught the lamplight. Even his boots gleamed, polished to mirror shine.
"You clean up nice, Bob. Business must be good."
... 2025-02-05 03:42:26 +0000 UTC View Post"One week. That's what it should take, sir!"
"That's it?" Adom looked at Master Kern.
"If Fili says one week, then one week it is." She nodded, and Fili let out a small, excited giggle before catching himself.
Adom couldn't help but smile at the apprentice's enthusiasm. "Then I'...
2025-02-04 21:09:53 +0000 UTC View PostAdom's smile grew increasingly strained as Miss Grimclaw examined Professor Mirwen's card for what must have been the eighth time. The goblin librarian held it up to the light, squinted at it, turned it over, and then fixed Adom with another piercing stare from behind her tiny silver spectacles.<...
2025-02-04 03:45:22 +0000 UTC View PostGale.
Mr. Fox's right-hand man, according to Professor Kim. And Mr. Fox had been funding the professor's research for years.
If Gale was the knight employed by the Children of the Moon, and he answered directly to Mr. Fox, then that meant either the man was a big shot among the Childr...
2025-02-03 06:48:57 +0000 UTC View PostThrough the quiet evening paths of the academy grounds, Adom's footsteps carried the weight of frustration. Another day of subtle sabotage – or attempts at it, anyway. Four times he'd tried to derail the prototype today, each attempt more creative than the last, and each time feeling Hugo's sha...
2025-02-02 05:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostThrough the classroom window, autumn painted the academy grounds in warm colors. A gentle breeze scattered fallen leaves across the courtyard, where a first-year was poking at a particularly fat frog with a stick.
The boy wasn't being cruel, exactly - more like that peculiar brand of childh...
2025-02-02 05:17:52 +0000 UTC View PostWell... shit.
Adom's mind was still trying to process what had just happened. The cat - his cat - the one he'd been living with for days now... was a woman. A grown, very beautiful woman.
His brain helpfully began cataloging every single time he'd changed c...
2025-02-02 05:16:28 +0000 UTC View Post"Huff... Huff.. Hufff..."
"This is completely insane," Sam announced, for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.
[Indomitable Will Active]
"On- huff.. one more time..." Adom wheezed, straightening up with determination that his wobbling knees somewhat undermined.
...
2025-01-31 05:08:48 +0000 UTC View Post"Standard rules."
Professor Crowley stood in the academy's training grounds, morning light casting long shadows across the grass. The copper circles beneath their feet had seen countless duels, worn smooth by generations of students.
Around them, crystalline pillars hummed softly, rea...
2025-01-30 19:49:21 +0000 UTC View PostHow does one take down a criminal organization?
Well, the smartest approach would probably be to not mess with them in the first place. Walk away. Move to another city. Change your name. Buy a cottage somewhere remote and take up gardening.
But since that option was thoroughly out the...
2025-01-30 04:07:15 +0000 UTC View PostHere's the thing about golems: they need cores to function. That's like, Magical Engineering 101. Day one stuff. The kind of basic fact you learn right after "don't eat mysterious glowing mushrooms" and "yes, that ancient tomb is probably cursed."
So when you're holding a golem's core in yo...
2025-01-30 01:00:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe funny thing about world-changing discoveries is how they always seem to start with the best intentions. "This will revolutionize everything," they say. "Think of the possibilities," they insist.
And they're right, of course. Just not in the way they expect.
Take Dragon's Breath, f...
2025-01-29 01:33:38 +0000 UTC View Post"Meow."
"I thought you didn't want to have cats."
"I don't."
"Then why is there a cat drinking milk in our dorm?"
"It's a long story."
Adom sat on his bed, watching the small black cat lap delicately at the bowl of milk he'd scrounged earlier. It was surreal seeing s...
2025-01-29 01:32:32 +0000 UTC View Post"I can't."
"Yes, you can. You're not visualizing the weave properly." Adom leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on the practice room table in clear violation of at least three academy rules.
"I am! Look - threads of mana, geometric patterns, all that stuff. Nothing's happening."<...
2025-01-29 01:31:33 +0000 UTC View Post"Is he breathing properly?"
"I think he is."
"Damn. He looks better without his glasses."
"I think so too."
"Shh, he needs some rest, guys."
"Poor thing must be exhausted."
"Did anyone tell Headmaster Meris?"
"Sam's handling that."
"Has he moved at ...
2025-01-29 01:30:17 +0000 UTC View PostBonds.
Strange how they form. One moment you're alone, the next you're dragging a bleeding leprechaun through darkness, refusing to let him die. Adom only met Bob tonight - or was it today? Time blurred in the labyrinth's depths.
To be honest, he hadn't even liked Bob at first. The ne...
2025-01-29 01:29:05 +0000 UTC View Post